


What If Christmas, Perhaps, Means a Little Bit More

by gremlins-came-and-got-me (Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark)



Series: Holidays with the Stilinski-Hales [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Abusive Relationships (Laura), Alive Hales, Asshole Hales, Bisexual Laura, But Is Not Forgiven, Christmas Story, College Student Cora, College Student Stiles, F/F, Homophobic Hales, Human AU, Laura Explains, M/M, mentioned miscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 21:39:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13152564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark/pseuds/gremlins-came-and-got-me
Summary: Derek offers to help his cousin with planning her wedding, but he's also busy juggling finding Cora an apartment and finding the right time to propose to Stiles. Then, Laura shows up.Sequel tothis.





	What If Christmas, Perhaps, Means a Little Bit More

**Author's Note:**

> Title from _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ by Dr. Seuss.

* * *

“No,” Stiles said, waving a hand at the pile of garlands Derek was currently untangling. “No. If we have to plan a wedding and host Christmas, I give up on this year.”

Derek shrugged. “You offered to help Malia and Heather with the wedding. I offered to let Cora crash here while she’s on break from school so that none of us have to deal with the toxins.”

Stiles batted his eyelashes and swooned, knocking against Derek’s arm. In a falsetto voice, he claimed, “You do make me ever so hot and bothered when you denounce your family.”

Derek snorted. “Do I make you tingle too?”

Cora chose that moment to open the front door. Immediately she scrunched her face and stuck out her tongue. “Ew,” she added, unnecessarily. “If you’re going to be gross, go be gross in your room.”

“You can’t cockblock me in my own apartment,” Stiles said, flipping her off. “I pay rent, you do not. You don’t get to complain if I suck my boyfriend’s dick.”

“Or if I suck his dick,” Derek said mildly. Cora turned red.

“Oh my God,” she cried, rubbing at her eyes, “I just imagined Derek naked. Thanks a lot, assholes!”

Stiles blew her a kiss as she hurried to the guest room.

Then, he turned to Derek. “No,” he said.

“No what?”

“We are not hosting Christmas.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. I am not dealing with Christmas bullshit on top of wedding bullshit.”

“Fine, we’re not hosting Christmas,” Derek agreed. Stiles smiled, picking up one end of the untangled garland. Derek waited until Stiles had started winding it loosely around his hand before adding, “Cora is.”

Stiles spluttered angrily, tearing the garland free and throwing it at Derek. “No!”

Derek dissolved into laughter, pointing at Stiles’ face while he wiped away his tears. “No, we’re not. Cora is though. She’s got her own apartment now.”

“Really?” Stiles raised an eyebrow. Derek nodded. He knew why Stiles was skeptical: Cora had claimed she had a place to stay before only for it to fall through at the last minute, hence why she was staying with them for now. Four weeks was a long time to be looking for an apartment, and Cora was definitely discouraged.

Derek had stepped in and fronted her deposit, which allowed her to increase her budget and land an apartment almost immediately. Derek’s one condition was that she would host the Christmas get together he and Stiles were coordinating with Malia and Heather and a few close friends.

“Seriously seriously?” Stiles said. “She’s got her own place?”

“Yeah. Downside is it’s a little close to the university so parking is a bit tight, but it’s in a good location, and it’s within Cora’s budget.”

“And she’s hosting Christmas?”

“Yep.”

Stiles pulled the garland back to himself and worked out a knot. “So, if she’s got her own place,” he said, “why is she still here?”

“Because she’s in the process of moving,” Derek explained. “It takes time, you know that.”

Stiles nodded. “So, is there anything we can do to help her?”

Derek laughed, poking at Stiles’ side. “You just want to have our apartment back to ourselves again, don’t you?”

“Well, I wasn’t really joking about sucking your dick. Can’t really get it on with an audience.” He leaned into Derek, pressing a kiss to his lips. “And you know how I make you scream.”

Derek shook his head, fighting the blush that always came when Stiles reminded him how uninhibited he was in the bedroom. It wasn’t that Derek was embarrassed about the fact that all it took was a little bit of foreplay before he was begging Stiles for more. It was that they had three noise complaints from the last month alone.

“Oh come on, you like it when I do that thing with my tongue.”

“I do,” Derek confirmed. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. With Cora here, it _was_ hard to find time to be alone. “Hey, do you think if we help Cora tonight, we can get her moved so that we can…” Derek trailed off as Stiles grinned at him.

“Best idea I’ve heard today. Let’s go.” Stiles threw down the garland and tugged Derek up with him. He banged on Cora’s door until she opened it. “Cora, darling, honey, you know we love you—”

“Oh shut up, you just want to fuck my brother in peace.” Cora’s smile belied her angry tone. She pointed at the large suitcase on her bed. “I’ve just got to finish packing my clothes and then I’ll be ready to go.”

“Is that really everything?” Derek asked. “Shouldn’t there still be more stuff?”

Cora shrugged. “I moved most of it yesterday when you were busy.” She grabbed Derek, hugging him tightly. “Thank you for everything,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Then, she turned and embraced Stiles too. “I wish Mom and Dad weren’t so close-minded. They’re going to miss a lot of our lives.”

“Hey, it’s their choice to be so hateful,” Stiles said. “They are the ones who gave up on us. Don’t feel bad about missing them but don’t expect them to change.”

“I guess,” Cora said. “But I still feel like it’s a betrayal if I love them.”

“I love them too, they’re our parents,” Derek said. “But I can’t stand by their actions and words. They don’t hurt just Stiles or Malia or Heather. They hurt you too. I can’t forgive them the agony they put my little sister through. Understand, though, that you don’t have to give up your love for them.”

He hugged Cora again. “Hurry and pack. If you’re hosting Christmas, you’ll need supplies.”

“And dishes,” Stiles said. “I know the perfect set for you.” He wandered off, digging out his phone and shooting off a series of quick texts.

“Let him go,” Derek said when Cora started after him. “He’s right that you’ll need dishes. Last I remember, you just had the college essentials.”

“You’re not going to make me do this by myself?” Cora asked.

Derek paused in the doorway, looking back at her. She had her arms wrapped around her torso, eyes downcast. She seemed small, frightened. Less like the twenty-one year old going for her degree in electrical engineering and more like the eleven year old who accidentally outed him.

Derek reached out and brushed his hand down her arm. “Why would I do that?” he asked. “I haven’t had to do anything by myself without support. Why would I expect you to be alone?”

The smile she offered him was tremulous at best. “The measure of a Hale,” she reminded him.

He waved it away. “The measure of a Hale isn’t to do something all alone with no help. It’s knowing when to ask for help and when to go without. Just because Mom claims she made something of herself without help from anyone, it doesn’t mean that we should be held to the same standards. Besides, Mom always had our uncle and father behind her.”

“You’re not behind me,” Cora protested.

“No,” he agreed. “I’m beside you. Instead of watching you fail, I’ll be here to lean on. The only thing I ask in return is if you can be there in a similar capacity.”

Cora’s eyes lit up and she ducked into her closet. She returned shortly, handing him a small black box.

“Like that?” she asked with a knowing smile.

Derek closed his fist around the box and nodded. “Just like that.” He cleared his throat and shoved the box in his pocket. “Now finish packing. I’m pretty sure Stiles is organizing a shopping trip for you.”

He left Cora folding clothes and went looking for his boyfriend.

He found Stiles at their front door staring down a frazzled, unkempt Laura. Her head was down, and bizarrely, all Derek could think was that her part wasn’t straight like it usually was.

Stiles’ shoulders were rigid. He was blocking the doorway deliberately. Derek stood behind him, a hand on his shoulder.

Laura sniffled, looking up. Her eyes were red, watery, and her nose appeared as if she’d tried rubbing off the top layer of skin.

“What do you want?” Derek asked, tone sharp.

Laura breathed in nosily. “I wanted to apologize,” she said, her voice wavering. “I-I’ve said things that I shouldn’t have, judged you when I had no right.”

“What happened?” Derek said, not unkindly.

Laura shook her head.

“Her eyes have been opened,” Stiles said cryptically. He turned to face Derek. “I won’t tell you what to do, but your choice will have consequences.” He walked away, leaving Derek and Laura at the door.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked into the awkward silence. Laura shrugged.

“I don’t know,” she said. She cradled one arm to her chest, and Derek thought he saw the beginnings of a bruise on her wrist. “My husband, he wants a divorce.”

Derek didn’t say anything.

“He—I—I’m bisexual. I just realized it. Mom and Dad won’t help me.”

“Did he hurt you?” Derek nodded at her wrist. Laura blinked back tears, rubbing gently at the abused skin.

“I hurt it when I fell because he was chasing me. God, I’m so sorry for how I’ve treated you.”

“Did you go to the police?”

“Yes. They’re looking into it, but I need a place to stay. Just for a week or so.”

Derek immediately looked back to find Stiles sitting on the couch, one of his books in his face. He knew what Stiles’ consequences would be, and Stiles was right; they couldn’t let her in. Not after all the hurt she had caused them.

“You can get a hotel room?” he offered, and Laura’s face crumpled.

“I don’t have any money,” she wailed. “All I have is my credit card, and Mark checks it frequently. He’d find me.”

Derek sighed. “I can’t offer you anything else,” he said. “You could always try the shelter on 44th.”

Laura shook her head. “Mark used to drive ‘round and harass them. I’m sure they’d recognize me.”

“You’ve harassed us many times. What about Thanksgiving?” Derek glanced at Stiles. “What you said to Stiles is still very fresh. We’re not inclined to help someone who has hurt us in the not-even-distant past.”

“Attaboy,” Stiles muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

“She can stay with me.”

Derek turned around to stare at Cora.

She shuffled her feet and ducked her head. “I know this isn’t ideal, but she can stay with me for a little while. What was it, a week?” Laura nodded. “She stays with me for a week and then she’s gone. On her own. Just in time for New Year’s. You’ll have to find somewhere else to stay for Christmas Day,” Cora told Laura. “It won’t just be Derek and Stiles at my place.”

“I could hang out at a coffee shop or a diner?” L:aura offered.

“Sure, that works,” Stiles said, lowering his book. “Cora, you’ll forgive me if I don’t go with you today?”

“Absolutely.”

“Derek, it’s your choice again.”

“Are there similar consequences this time?”

Stiles thought about it for a very short moment before shaking his head. “No. Not this time.”

Derek eyed Laura, evaluating. “I’ll help, just because it’s Cora,” he finally said. “But, I’ve got my eye on you, Laura. If you even try anything, you’re out.”

“Cora can take care of herself,” Laura said angrily, wiping at the tears on her face.

Derek shrugged. “Yes she can, which is why she’ll be the one kicking you out. It’s her apartment, after all, her goodwill, that you are using.”

“I know that,” Laura said quietly. “I honestly never expected to even get this far with you. Thank you.”

Cora disappeared into her room and returned with her suitcase.

“Let’s go,” she said, brushing past Laura. Derek shrugged and followed.

“Wait,” Stiles called, and Derek turned around to find his boyfriend right behind him.

“Hi,” Derek said.

Stiles smiled, whispering, “Hi,” back. Stiles grabbed Derek’s cheeks, thumbs smoothing over the corners of Derek’s mouth before he kissed him. “Come back to me, yeah?” he said.

“Of course.” Derek pressed the promise into Stiles’ mouth. “Always.”

When he closed the door, he found Laura watching him with an unreadable expression. Derek grunted at her and she shook herself.

“Sorry, no,” she said, rushed. “I just, I wasn’t judging you badly or anything. I was just wondering.”

When she fell quiet, Derek sighed. “Wondering what?” he prompted.

“What’s it like to be in love?”

“Weren’t you in love with Mark?” he asked, leading the way to the stairs.

“God, no. I pretended, and I definitely let him influence me for too long.” She was quiet for the two flights down. “Actually, I was pregnant. He proposed and we got married, but I don’t think we were ever in love.”

“I didn’t know that,” Derek said. “About the pregnancy.”

“Yeah, we didn’t tell anyone. I miscarried just before the end of the first trimester. I thought it was my fault for the longest time, and so I channeled all my hatred of myself into hating you.”

“Why me?”

Laura shrugged. “You had your life together and you were happy. If I couldn’t have the perfect relationship, you couldn’t either. It helped that Mom and Dad are so rigidly against anything heterosexual. All I had to do was keep attacking your sexual identity, and they wouldn’t look too closely at me.”

The reason his parents had been overly critical, had refused to accept Stiles as his boyfriend, had essentially cut Derek out of their lives unless they needed to provide a united family front was because Laura had been trying to hide herself?

Derek paused, assessing Laura with a cold gaze. “I don’t want to accept your apologies,” Derek told her. “They wouldn’t be sincere enough.”

Cora was waiting for hem by her car, and Derek pulled her aside. “I can’t come with you either,” he said. “Maybe Laura will tell you what she just told me.” Ten years of barbed comments and forced ignorance, straddling a line that was always being redrawn. Ten years of his life twisted into the little boxes his parents and uncle wanted him to fit into without consideration for him, exacerbated by his sister.

Forgiveness was a long way from where he was standing.

“I love you,” he said, kissing Cora’s temple. “Be safe. Call me as soon as you get there. And call me if you need me to come get you.”

“Absolutely,” Cora promised. She hugged Derek and then climbed behind into the driver’s seat. They both waved as the car pulled out, and Derek waited until he couldn’t see them anymore before he trudged back up the stairs.

Stiles looked surprised to see him but didn’t say anything, not even when Derek stumbled to him, dropping to his knees.

“I was going to wait until tomorrow for this,” Derek said, digging in his pocket for the box, “but I decided I can’t wait anymore.”

Stiles sank down too, tearing into his backpack until he pulled out a matching box. “You’re not doing it first, damn it,” he growled with no heat.

Derek laughed, throwing his arms around his fiancé. “I have seen my future,” he said, “and it is you.”

“We’re ready. Oh my God, we’re so ready.” Stiles peppered Derek’s face with light kisses while he fumbled the boxes open and slid the rings onto their fingers. “I don’t even care that we’re doing this early. We’re that ready. Thank you.”

“You haven’t said yes,” Derek reminded him.

“Neither have you,” Stiles shot back, grinning. “Yes, a thousand yeses. A million yeses. All the yeses.”

“All the yeses to you too,” Derek said. He leaned against Stiles, the only constant in his life for the past five years. “I should have said we were ready at Thanksgiving,” Derek admitted.

Stiles shook his head. “You weren’t then,” he said, laying his hand atop Derek’s. “You are now and that’s what matters.”

Derek admired the rings, the promises they held. “I am ready,” he said. “I am so ready.”

Stiles pointed at him. “We are not hosting New Year’s _and_ planning a wedding at the same time,” he said.

Derek laughed.

~ Fin ~

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted at [my Tumblr](https://1989dreamer.tumblr.com).
> 
> Not edited yet. I will edit later.
> 
> If something stands out as wrong or needs to be tagged, let me know. Thanks!


End file.
